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E. not everyone is as honest on their taxes as you are, what if someone claims a big donation to gcmaine...and the IRS audits them, wouldn't it be nice to show them an excel sheet that says 'see look our $300 is small potatos"

This would never happen as GCM.org is NOT a registered non-profit organization - and that is the way it was intended to be.

C. Do people know when they 'donate' that the money is used at the discression of the site operater?

Most donations to any entity are used at the discretion of the receiver. It's amazing how many donations to some great causes have a percentage going to fund special interests that have nothing at all to do with the original cause. The difference being, when these entities are multi-million dollar you can often find where these funds go because they are disclosed. With 25 donating members to this web site, I don't think there is to much room for wrongdoing.

That being said, I don't see a problem with those funds being listed except for the fact that it makes more work for Rick, and perhaps he should be compensated for that, and we need more donating members to do that.

Perhaps if you are willing to donate your time (and Rick is willing) he can send you a note when funds come in and go out and you can keep the books updated for the site.

Bruce, I understand it is not set up as a non profit. However, the word on the front page is 'donate'. Many folks assume donate mean to a nonprofit. Therefore in their mind they can write off such donation on their Schedule A. If someone lied (and many do) and the IRS audit them, and they say 'oh I made xx donation to gcmaine' the IRS could follow up and then see this can o'worms.

Dave, you're right. Big nonprofits can and do use the funds for lobbying, additional fundrasing and the like (remember the Red Cross wanting to buy computers with the Katrina $?). That is why nonprofits tax returns are on the internet accessible to any Tom, Dick or Hennrietta. A person should check into the nonprofit they are considering donating to before giving said donation and they can find out the information readily (how much is that CEO really making?).

If Rick wants me to keep the books I'm happy to do so. I also know of at least 2 other people on this board with accounting backgrouds and experience if he would prefer them, someone can pm me and I can ask if they are interested.

And I apologize if anyone has viewed this as being too aggressive. I have brought up these points several times and always get blown off. And in this thread and the board nomination thread I felt attacked several times.

If we want to look professional and organized, we need to act professional, organized and also accountable.

They say I have A.D.D. but they just don't understand. Oh Look! A chicken!

My only gripe with your original post was that it was it's own topic. And it's not all your fault, you could have made that post another day and no one would have responded, and it would have made little impact on the original topic. You can never tell what direction a post is going to take a thread here! Anyway, It is not a bad request whether anything comes of it or not.

One benefit to organizing the finances a bit more is that we would be prepared for the future. The board has briefly discussed allowing gc related commercial entities to make posts and to pay to advertise on this site, and if that ever happened we would have a start.

Just my 2 cents worth. I'm still in my first year of geocaching. When I saw the "donate" button, I did not interpret that to mean this is a 'non profit' or 'not for profit' site. My interpretation was: Paying membership is not required to use the site, meaning the site will be available for all users, no matter what their income. I chose to donate because I could. Next time it might be different, but what a relief to know that no matter what my financial status, I can still participate. Thank you Rick and board members for all you do.

book keeping

While I always appreciate folks that volunteer their time for good causes, does anybody here really think somebody else other then Rick should "keep the books" for HIS website? Let's start over. Anybody want to foster the idea that it's a bad idea to actually "donate", contribute, toss in a few bucks to keep this site up and running like it does? Are there really folks out there that would donate to a site like this with the idea that the money they pay would be deductible? Lastly, from my experience as an attorney representing over 500 small business corporations in this state, profit and non-profit, I don't think the IRS looks at the books of companies that folks donate to and take bogus deductions. Doesn't happen, period!

I like this site just the way it is. Remember, if Rick came home today and didn't like the tone of these discussions, he can flip a switch and it all would be gone. If the meager funds that run this are an issue to a cacher, then please don't waste your time here. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Being a donating member for quite some time I have no problem what so ever with giving
Rich the $$$ I do. No question that the meager amount that comes in via this site does not even come close to what it costs to keep it up and running.